While a month might not seem all that long for a home to be on the market, in real estate parlance, a property that hasn’t sold in 30 days is “stale.”
D.C. among the areas where stale housing inventory rose the most
Those days appear to be over. The share of homes that were on the market for 30 days or longer rose to 61.2 percent nationwide in July, according to a recent report from Redfin real estate brokerage. That’s up 12.5 percent compared with July 2021, when 54.4 percent of homes were on the market for at least 30 days without going under contract.
July’s jump in stale listings represents the first year-over-year increase since the pandemic-induced housing market frenzy began and is nearly the largest increase in Redfin’s records, which date back to 2012. The only time the year-over-year increase was higher was in April 2020, when the housing market in most locations came to a halt in the early days of the pandemic. That month, the percentage of homes that stayed on the market without a contract for more than 30 days was up 13.9 percent compared with April 2019.
End of carousel
The pace of sales has slowed in recent months because of the swift rise in mortgage rates to 5 percent or more, compared with the under 3 percent rates of late 2021 and early 2022. In addition to some buyers dropping out of the market because of affordability issues, recession fears and high inflation are causing buyer demand to dip.
The number of homes for sale has gradually increased in recent months, primarily because of stale listings going unsold rather than new listings. While the number of homes for sale was up 4 percent in July compared with July 2021, which is the biggest increase since mid-2019, the number of new listings was down 6 percent.
For buyers, stale listings provide the benefit of being able to take their time to decide whether to make an offer and allow more room for negotiating with sellers.
The top metro areas that saw the biggest percentage increase from July 2021 to July 2022 of homes sitting on the market for at least 30 days include:
⋅ Oakland, Calif.: 60.7 percent
⋅ Phoenix: 54.5 percent
⋅ Austin: 50.9 percent
⋅ Anaheim, Calif.: 49.7 percent
⋅ Riverside, Calif.: 46.7 percent
⋅ Fort Worth: 43.4 percent
⋅ Dallas: 42.9 percent
⋅ Washington,: 42.5 percent
⋅ Sacramento: 41.7 percent
⋅ Seattle: 41.3 percent
Out of the top 50 largest metro areas, the share of stale listings declined in just one metro: Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where it was down about 1 percent in July 2022 compared with July 2021.
To read the full report, including a chart and a metro-level table, click here.
Source: WP
